Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet, which is why since 2010 we have focused on driving up standards in education. English children are now the best readers in the Western world and are 11th in the world for maths, up from 27th when Labour left office in 2010. Children in England now far outperform their peers in Labour run Wales and SNP-run Scotland.
We will build on this success to make sure every child gets a worldclass education and reaches their full potential.
Giving every child the chance to go to a great school.
- Today, 90% of schools are Good or Outstanding, up from 68% in 2010.
- School funding is at its highest ever level in real terms per pupil and there are record numbers of teachers, 27,000 more than 2010.
- The pupil premium, introduced by the Conservatives in 2011, will allocate almost £3 billion next year to support disadvantaged children to reach their full potential.
- Free school meals have been extended to more groups of children than under any other government over the past half a century.
We will build on this progress in the next Parliament by protecting day-to-day schools spending in real terms per pupil. None of this progress has been possible without our great teachers. We have hit our 2019 manifesto commitment to introduce starting salaries of £30,000 and are backing headteachers to manage behaviour and enforce discipline.
We will require schools to follow our guidance on banning the use of mobile phones during the school day, which is proven to boost attainment, reduce bullying and support good behaviour in schools. We will attract more talented teachers by expanding our recruitment and retention premium and reducing workload.
To keep pace with our global competitors we will introduce the Advanced British Standard, a new approach to 16-19 education which will build on the best of A Levels and T Levels. We will end the artificial and damaging divide between academic and technical education which has persisted for far too long. Every young person will spend more time in the classroom, learning more subjects, including English and maths to 18, as they do in most advanced economies around the world.
